The blog is dedicated to the work of Joseph David Toloff (1888-1957). From his studio in Evanston, Illinois he was one of the premier photographers of the North Shore from 1913 until his retirement in 1955. From time to time I will feature a different photograph or set of photographs by Toloff or other information about him I may uncover.

Monday, April 29, 2013

WANDA CARLYLE IN 'THE TAVERN' by J.D. Toloff

This week's presentation is two beautiful J.D. Toloff photos of Wanda Carlyle in 'The Tavern':

On the back of each of the photos is written "Wanda Carlyle in 'The Tavern", Geo. M. Cohan Theatre." Unfortunately not much is known about Wanda Carlyle. The Internet Broadway Data Base (www.ibdb.com) has two credits for her:

'A Prince There Was' which ran for 159 performances at the George M. Cohan Theatre from December 24, 1918 to May, 1919.

'The Tavern', also at the George M. Cohan Theatre for 252 performances from September 27, 1920 to May 1, 1921 and Carlyle played "the hired girl".

Here is a herald from 'The Tavern':

Unfortunately, that's where the trail ends for Wanda Carlyle. I couldn't find any further mention of her, and the 1920 Census for New York does not list anyone named Wanda Carlyle. Perhaps that was her stage name.

The photographs are labelled "Toloff Chicago" unlike the usual "J.D. Toloff Evanston". Toloff's obituary mentioned that at one time he had a studio at 410 S. Michigan avenue in Chicago, which is the Fine Arts Building (and is still standing today):

So all we have today of Wanda Carlyle are a few mentions in a data base of Broadway performers. Luckily for us Joseph Toloff also preserved her for posterity.